2009-2015 Cadillac CTS-V General Discussion Discussion, Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice? in Cadillac CTS-V Series Forum - 2009-2015; Apologize for the long post ahead of time...
I've been lurking here for years as well as the other forum. ...

Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

I've been lurking here for years as well as another forum. I have also been going to cars and coffee in MD (church of holy donut and Katie's) for the past 7 years EVERY weekend when I am around.

I am now in the position to buy a vehicle that needs to fill multiple needs. Those needs are

Trackability- I enjoy tracking cars, not dragstrip (never done that, maybe I would), but setting lap times to work on improving. Also, scca and autocross events interest me. There is a lot of opportunity for that where I live with Summit Point and autocross events a few miles from me. I desire a car that has a good combination of toss ability with daily driver ability. I drive a good amount for work but also have an old tsx for long trips or sh1tty city parking days. I plan on keeping the tsx for only these days, or snow.

Community- there is a strong presence of ctsv's at the cars and coffee events, not so much at autocross events and track days. I feel that this community aspect is very important as I like to attend everts and hang out with people with a similar interest or passion.

Livabilty- the vehicle is going to be my primary dd when long trips or city parking in not so hot areas come into play. Is the car a comfortable and reasonable car to live with daily.

I have narrowed my searches to really 3 cars considering the above "wants/needs" , they are

Ctsv- obviously. It checks all boxes except, from what I've read, tossability. When it comes to tossing it into turns during daily driving or at the track, weight and nimbleness are not talked about here.

M3- large community. Good or bad depending on stigma of owning an m3. Great track car. Concern, does the handling outweigh the lack of torque? Reliability? I think I know the answer here. Have also read its a good dd.

G8 gt- large community, great dd. may lack track or autocross dynamics. Would not be so concerned with long trips or city parking as it flys under the radar and gets good mileage considering performance.

I know this is a v forum, but I'm not posting this in the other car forums as I have seen this is the most honest forum. There is bias of course but when there is a reasonable better choice the members here are more likely to recommend the best choice vs. what they own.

In your opinion, which vehicle would provide for the most satisfaction across all my wants/needs?

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

The V is definitely a heavy car. Pushes in turns a lot. Eats tires and brakes, I'm talking track tires and brakes.

I track quite a bit. The V is a handful in the corners but very stable. I also learned HOW TO DRIVE the car on track with an instructor driving. Much more fun using his techniques. A heavy car requires different tactics IMO.

Having said all that, I regularly pass M3's at the track but don't see many G8's.... I'm not stock. And I LOVE the V for daily driving.

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

If the social element is important to you, go meet people in the different clubs before you get the car. The dynamic is pretty different depending on the car. I would guess that the M3 crowd would be way younger than the CTS-V crowd, but I could be wrong.

I test drove an M3 and found the interior to be a very UNspecial place to be. Nothing tugs your heart when you sit in that car. The engine was so so. A touch quicker than my 370Z but not special enough to pull the trigger and change. The V definitely feels special. A very nice blend of luxury and sport. It's not an autocross monster and it is expensive as a track car. I now see it as a highway burner and LOVE it. There is no compromise as a daily driver. It's actually one of the most comfortable cars I've travelled in. Better than two Audis I've previously owned. Realistically for a daily driver, it's better to have a great DD car and a decent autocross car than vice versa. My 370Z was great for autocross and fun to drive. But the road noise and harsh ride wore on me over the years. I couldn't be happier with my V. And again, I found the M3 pretty boring in all respects.

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

There is no larger, single, unified, organized presence at the track events than the V gang of the Cadillac Challenge. It's a family. We paddock together, some of us vacation together, we look after each other. The company we keep is frankly more of what I look forward to than the actual tracking itself. I had an amg and an m3 but there was never any sense of community. I can't speak for where you are, only for the great bunch of owners here in CA and NV, but the V has been by far the best automotive ownership experience (for the reasons and concerns you raised) that I've ever had.

As for ability? I spent a full day at Buttonwillow spanking, and I do mean spanking, two Gt3's and two GTR's, competently driven, alllllll day long. They simply watched me sit pole every run group whole they enjoyed 2-5, haplessly. And at Big Willow, 3 of the top five fastest laps of the weekend were V's. that's against everything from ZR-1's and Vipers, to Porsches and what have you. To be fair, those three are stock, but most of the competition ain't either. ;-) We are serving notice out here.

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

I am of the opinion, that the V was specifically design, to follow exactly the requirements in the title of your post.

Considering the SRT8 community is also in exactly this position, and the V does everything better other than head room, I would doubt youre going to find a better all around car than the CTS-V2.

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Originally Posted by Meinbeast

I am going to have to check out some of the social drives for each. This category is probably ranked least,important of the three since both have pretty strong followings.

Local carmax has both m3 and v in stock, going to go there to sit in both. Interiors are important.

M3's are very small. I think that will be what you notice more than anything. I don't specifically like their inteior style, but like the V they are a step above the base car. An M6 is really more comparable to the CTS-V2. The M6 has an amazing interior.

The M3 has some nice exterior lines, and I like the look of the 335i coup to begine with. The M3 sedans I just don't car for. The coup just looks so much more sporty and low slung. I considered heavily getting a 335ix coup because I like the looks and wanted AWD. I drove one for an hour, and wasn't impressed. It had higher miles 40k or so, but the interior was falling apart. Mostly though, I felt very confined. After driving an SRT8 for 4 years, it just didn't feel right. I actually ended up buying a 2012 SRT8 300, before ultimately finding my dream V2 coupe a few months later. The 300 was a fantastic car, and the V sort of combines the comfort of a 300 SRT8's interior space, with some of the agility of the 335i. This is how I felt at the time, regardless of what the V really was designed for.

I bought my V without a test drive.....I was blown away on the 500 mile trip home how tame, and how brutal can be simply with the change of buttons and how you want to drive. I still am. I imagine an M6 would also have this sort of feel. The M3 is a bit less refined. I can't imagine it is any more quiet and smooth than the 335, and I wasn't impressed by the ride, smoothness, or inteior road noise in the 335. It felt like a compact race car. The M3 sounds very nice. The 300 SRT 392 sound better than all of the cars IMHO, with the M6 a close second - that V10 sound really sweet!

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

Good questions. I had an 09 V sedan that I used in much the same way as you describe. Community is also important to me, as I find that a big part of the ownership experience. Unfortunately, I live in a small city that does not have much of an auto enthusiast crowd (excluding modded turbo diesel pickups). Even with that, I was surprised how known and respected the V2 was. Since it is a cousin to Corvette, it seems to be respected by the Corvette clubs and people. I can't speak to the BMW community other than I have done some track days with a BMW club and they seemed to be pretty intense in their cars.

As for DD use, V2 is awesome with one exception - fuel range. It has a small tank that will get you maybe 300 miles if you are driving nicely on the highway. I recall a couple tanks around 200 miles. The MPG is not good, but not all that bad either, it is just the small tank. Refueling every other day is not out of the question if you drive a lot.

On the track, it is heavy and does push a little in turns, but overall a VERY fun and competent track car. It never felt dangerous or out of control to me, even with some power oversteer. The weight is hard on the brakes, and of course tires. This is true with most any car on the track though. The magnetic shocks are truly amazing and do a great job on making the car jekyl and hyde for street/track use.

I have had 2 Z06s (C5 and Z07 C6), and although the Z (especially the Z07) are great track cars, I am strongly considering getting back into a V for all the reasons you described.

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

Thank you for all the feedback.

Track ability - Since this car is mainly a dd that will have to play many roles, I am realizing that having good performance is good enough. My original hopes of tossing this car around are unrealistic and after hearing all the responses, I don't think I care about that as much now. As someone said it does many things good, where other cars have significant compromises. I am good with that.

Community - I have spoken to a few v owners at the cars and coffee events , seem like a great group. Hopefully I can make it to the donut tomorrow. My USTA team is in the district final at 8am, not sure if I'm on the roster yet.

Live ability- outside of not being able to use the car for what it's capable of every single day, everyone has had great things to say about living with the v everyday.

I keep my cars for as long as they run, currently have tsx with 200k and rdx with 100k. Both my wife and I drive 30k+ a year. My intention would be to keep the v that long as well. after it serves as a dd I'd love to turn it into a track car.

Reliability? Other that rocking recaros, squeaking sunroof, wheel clicking, and marbles in the supercharger is there anything else that may have long term reliability issues?

Re: Track ability, community, livability...is the v still a top choice?

Plus the V is almost invisible to cops. They love to pull over Z and M3 cars. Happened to me in my Nismo but they seem to ignore the V. I've been cruising at 80 in the V and cops just go by with a glance over. In my Z I would have been busted. Cops love to ticket BMW douches.

Track ability - Since this car is mainly a dd that will have to play many roles, I am realizing that having good performance is good enough. My original hopes of tossing this car around are unrealistic and after hearing all the responses, I don't think I care about that as much now. As someone said it does many things good, where other cars have significant compromises. I am good with that.

Community - I have spoken to a few v owners at the cars and coffee events , seem like a great group. Hopefully I can make it to the donut tomorrow. My USTA team is in the district final at 8am, not sure if I'm on the roster yet.

Live ability- outside of not being able to use the car for what it's capable of every single day, everyone has had great things to say about living with the v everyday.

I keep my cars for as long as they run, currently have tsx with 200k and rdx with 100k. Both my wife and I drive 30k+ a year. My intention would be to keep the v that long as well. after it serves as a dd I'd love to turn it into a track car.

Reliability? Other that rocking recaros, squeaking sunroof, wheel clicking, and marbles in the supercharger is there anything else that may have long term reliability issues?

My two cents since you asked for it:

The reliability mentioned above about marbles, etc is really dependent on how you drive the car, and luck of the draw.

I, believe this car is more than a car, Cadillac, or 4 wheels. It is NOT created to be a daily driver. thats silly to say, given the gas tank is tiny,and atleast mine, doesnt look like you would WANT to drive it daily - its a jet on wheels! just my opinion. I purchased this car because although s550 has it all, this car is it.. And didn't want to lease a Lamborghini (I can't fit in one anyway!) or other any exotic, when this car gives me all the thrills.

V may HAVE to be a daily driver for some folks, is what it is, but I believe the V to be something of a treat to yourself.

Cadillac created this car to say something about the thrill of driving. Its a racecar, not something you take in a parking garage everyday, get your coffee in or eat left jack n box for lunch in the car. some may disagree. but My car was bought as a toy, an experience to be felt everytime I turn her on. The car were talking....but I treat 'her with emotion.

I own a viper, c6 Vette, charger, (sold) 2013 s550 twin turbo, and will say this car is the best in terms of sleekness and $70,000 price tag.